


Building a Home (a Future)

by kitkatt0430



Series: A Touch of Forgetfulness [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Anniversary, Cisco recovering from amnesia, Hartley and Cisco's wedding anniversary, M/M, fur babies coming home, grappling with losing six years of memories isn't easy, mental health, not named yet though, pet rats!!!!!!, some of it is coming back, that'll be another story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 04:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21220925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: It's Hartley and Cisco's first anniversary as a married couple and Cisco is determined not to let the fact that he can't remember their wedding day spoil the plans he sort of remembers making for getting pet rats with Hartley.  And as far as Hartley is concerned?  The most important thing he wanted for the anniversary still happens.He gets to spend the day with Cisco.





	Building a Home (a Future)

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place before "Broken Like Me" and the series order has been updated to reflect this.

Cisco wakes up and he knows where the poster is.

Which, considering he didn’t even know the poster existed the night before, is impressive.

About a week earlier, Cisco had a run in with a meta who’d… not exactly erased the last six years of Cisco’s memories, but certainly installed one hell of a mental block on them. So he could barely remember anything about Barry Allen, had to be told Ronnie had survived the accelerator only to die for real a year and a half later, introduced all over again to Caitlin’s alter ego Frost, and told who Ralph or Julian were. And those all seemed relatively simple compared to the revelation that… not only had Hartley Rathaway come back into his life, but they’d eventually begun dating and even married.

And today… today was the first anniversary of that wedding. Which Cisco still can’t remember. But he does remember the poster now.

Sliding out of bed, and soothing Hartley back to sleep when the other man started to stir, Cisco pulled on his robe and a pair of socks (the super soft kind with the little rubber grippy things) and visited the bathroom before heading out to the kitchen to start the tea and coffee.

Then he headed over to the built in bookcase behind the foosball table, carefully opened up a hidden compartment on the far right, and slid out a poster of Van Gogh’s painting ‘Two Rats’.

Rolling it open, Cisco shook his head in amusement. It’s not really his cup of tea art wise, but he’s pretty sure Hartley likes it. Or would like it. Could be another ‘almost remembering but not really’ moment and he only knew about the painting’s existence because of Hartley. Or it could be he found out about the painting some other way and thought Hartley would like the poster of it because… well… the man did have a side blog on tumblr dedicated to rats being adorable.

Fetching some tape out of the guest room office, Cisco quickly taped the poster up on the wall in between the master bedroom and guest room doors. The perfect place to put a console table with a rat cage on top.

Cisco was back in the kitchen pouring himself a cup of coffee when Hartley came out of the bedroom and collapsed onto one of their bar seats at the kitchen’s breakfast bar. “Tea,” Hartley mumbled, not unlike a zombie calling for brains.

“What kind?”

“Earl Gray. Or the breakfast blend.” Hartley blinked when, a few moments later, Cisco slid a cup of Earl Gray tea in front of him, no milk or cream just a packet of stevia. “You’re wonderful.”

“I want pancakes this morning, but I’m no good at flipping them. So unless you are, I’ll make due with waffles instead,” Cisco informed Hartley with a grin, just waiting for Hartley to turn around and see the poster.

“Okay, first, pancakes and waffles are basically the same thing just in different shapes. Second, waffles are totally superior so what’s with this ‘making due’ nonsense. Third? We have a Death Star waffle iron,” Hartley smirked as he made the third point and blew over his tea, as though that would make it both cool and steep faster.

“Death Star...” Cisco whirled around, staring at the cabinets. “Where? Where is it? I need to see this.”

“Bottom cabinet on the far left next to the pantry.”

Cisco might’ve made an awed noise as he carefully lifted the wondrous waffle maker out of the cabinet. “’Tis a thing of beauty,” he muttered, sticking it on the counter. Then he popped it open and admired the interior design where the waffles were pressed.

Hands settled on Cisco’s shoulders. “So, are we admiring the waffle maker or are we making waffles this morning?”

“Making waffles,” Cisco said, plugging in the waffle iron and closing it to let the heat build up faster.

Hartley was already pulling out the waffle mix and a mixing bowl from the pantry, a grin on his face. It was as Hartley turned to head for the refrigerator that Cisco saw him do a double take. And now Cisco was grinning widely as Hartley walked over to the poster instead.

“What… Cisco? What is… what? Why is a poster of Van Gogh’s ‘Two Rats’ on our wall?”

Cisco started giggling. “So, I had a plan. I had a really great plan. Wake up before you, put the poster up, and when you saw it say ‘surprise, we’re getting rats from the pet store today’. Though I kinda ruined the surprise myself on Saturday after our date, I didn’t see any reason not to put the poster up when I remembered its existence this morning.” He beamed. “Happy anniversary, Hartley.”

The look that Hartley gives Cisco says ‘I love you’ better than any words ever could and Cisco feels himself melt at the sight.

Part of Cisco aches, though. It’s their anniversary and Cisco can’t even say the words ‘I love you’. Not yet. He doubts himself and what his feelings are too much to feel safe saying those words yet.

“Where were you even keeping that poster?” Hartley asked, looking elated and bewildered all at once.

“The, uh, secret compartment in the built in...” Cisco beamed at the sight of non-comprehension on Hartley’s face. “Ooooh, you don’t know about the secret compartment yet. Hah!”

“Show me?” Hartley batted his eyes in an absolutely ridiculous fashion that had Cisco giggling all over again. “Please?”

“Nope, nope, it’s my secret,” Cisco sang out the last word, drawing the two ‘e’s in secret out in an over-the-top manner.

“Alright, how about this?” Hartley went over to the tv built-in. “Am I hot or cold?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re always hot,” Cisco blurted out, blushing but smiling all the same.

Hartley blushed too, ducking his head. “I wasn’t fishing for compliments, Cisco. Not that I’m complaining. But, seriously, hot or cold?”

“Alright, alright, despite you being hot, that part of the room is so cold its freezing.” Cisco snickered as Hartley clearly ran that clue over in his head and then went over to the other built in on the opposite side of the room. “How about now?”

“Warmer, but not as hot as you.”

Hartley cracked up. “You’re such a dork,” he laughed and, oh, Cisco wanted to go kiss Hartley’s mouth, feel that laughter against his lips…

They played hot and cold until Hartley’s hand was on the secret panel but he couldn’t figure out how to open it. So Cisco came over and put a hand low on Hartley’s back, enjoying the minute shiver that went through Hartley’s body and then casually popped the compartment open with his other hand. Tiny piano hinges swung the molding free from the wall to reveal a small crevice between the bookshelves and the drywall that was just big enough for a well rolled poster.

“How have we lived here for so long and I never noticed this?” Hartley muttered, flipping the compartment open and closed.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t find it until a month or two ago, though I’m not entirely certain…” Cisco shrugged. “There isn’t a matching one on the other side, unfortunately. I do remember checking.”

“What about on the other built in?” Hartley looked over at it eagerly.

“Huh… now that I don’t remember checking. So could be, I guess.” Cisco slid his hand up Hartley’s back, feeling along his… his husband’s spine until he was cupping the back of Hartley’s neck and tilted his head to kiss Hartley’s cheek before all his boldness turned shy. “How about you go check while I start on breakfast?”

“Sounds good to me.” Hartley bounced back over to the other built in and began fondling all the molding in search of secret compartments.

Snickering to himself, Cisco retrieved the rest of the waffle ingredients and began mixing up their breakfast. And he grabbed some of those veggie breakfast sausages too. (Those just tasted so unfairly delicious, really.)

* * *

“You know, you two could’ve taken the whole day off,” Caitlin said when they walked in to STAR Labs’ cortex.

Iris gave a wave – which they both returned – from some cushy chairs that had been added near the Flash suit display at some point.

“We took all week of last week,” Cisco objected. “Besides, we’re going rat shopping later this afternoon, so we won’t be here the entire day.”

Hartley snickered. “Rat shopping,” he muttered under his breath at the same time Caitlin echoed the same words but louder and with more confusion. “We’re getting fur babies,” Hartley informed her with a bright grin.

“Oh, did you find the poster?” Iris spoke up. “Please say you found the poster, because I totally forgot to remind you about it.”

“I found the poster,” Cisco assured her.

“You’re actually okay with having a pet rat?” Caitlin asked, sounding a little dubious.

“Two. They’re social and we don’t want them getting lonely,” Cisco told her. “This was my plan before the one-touch-instant-amnesia thing and since I remembered it I want to stick with it. Hartley adores rats, they’re better apartment pets than dogs or cats, and at least they’re not hamsters.”

“Okay, what’s with you and hating on hamsters?” Iris asked.

“I want to know what’s up with the poster,” Caitlin muttered.

“The poster was of Van Gogh’s ‘Two Rats’ painting,” Hartley offered, then started pulling out his phone when Caitlin’s blank response was basically ‘he painted rats?’

Meanwhile, Cisco told Iris, “Dante’s fifth grade class had a pet hamster. He brought it home for winter break and the wheel squeaked loudly. Hamsters are more active at night and Dante was a heavy sleeper. But me? I’m a light sleeper. So that hamster kept me awake every night that winter break. Least restful vacation from school I ever had. There was a wall between me and that stupid rodent and I could still. Hear. The wheel. And it would’ve been an easy fix, but Dante insisted it was fine and that if I stepped foot into his room to grease the wheel, or steal and destroy the wheel or whatever, he’d do harm to my ToS Enterprise model.”

“This makes me so glad that Wally and I met each other as fully formed adults and don’t have these ‘tormented each other because children are dicks’ memories of each other,” Iris muttered.

“How is Wally doing?” Hartley asked, joining their conversation along with Caitlin.

“Pretty good, though I think he’s going to be leaving again at the end of the week,” Iris replied. “Though he’s done with the world traveling for now. He’ll be going to college. Out of state, but it’s supposed to have a good physics department.”

“Yes! He’s going with physics!” Hartley grinned victoriously.

“Barry’s devastated, he was so sure he’d convinced Wally forensic science was cooler.” Iris laughed. “He’s considering a double major in mechanical engineering too.”

“Oh, awesome.” Cisco felt a little victorious there himself, though not really sure why. He’d only briefly re-met Wally the other day, so he had no idea if he’d been trying to influence the guy’s continued education decisions or not.

“Looks like if I want a bio-chem buddy I’m going to have to get Jesse to come back from Earth-2,” Caitlin muttered, but she was smiling too. “I’m glad Wally finally came to a decision on what he wants to do aside from be a roving super hero. Did he tell you about the telepathic starfish?”

“Yes and it sounded freaky,” Iris answered and then the two of them started discussing weird stories about Wally’s adventures – things he’d told Iris about, stuff he’d asked for Team Flash’s advice on…

And Hartley was standing right next to Cisco but he didn’t have his arm around Cisco’s shoulders. Which, Cisco was starting to realize, he really wanted Hartley’s arm around his shoulders. They stood that way a lot… didn’t they? Because Cisco liked casual touches but Hartley was that little bit taller so it was more comfortable for him to put an arm around Cisco’s shoulders than the other way around…

How was he supposed to ask for this without it being weird?

Cisco shifted minutely closer to Hartley and pressed their arms together… and Hartley’s arm automatically shifted to go around Cisco’s shoulders. And then Hartley froze and he glanced at Cisco, as if to ask ‘is this okay?’ But Cisco was smiling and a tension was lifting off his chest and he felt Hartley relax again in response.

It was okay. It was wonderful.

Hartley’s fingers started trailing lazy circles along Cisco’s collar, sliding over his shirt and brushing against skin and… Cisco made a quiet, contented noise.

* * *

“So I had an idea,” Caitlin said, hooking up her computer to the conference room’s projector. “Yesterday, you got frustrated trying to relearn your current research because you needed to know concepts we’ve pioneered ourselves over the last six years.”

“Right...” Cisco exchanged a confused look with Hartley.

“So we’ll do a refresher course. Sort of the scientific equivalent of Cisco Ramon’s greatest hits, 2014 to 2019.” Caitlin’s computer screen appeared on the wall. “Starting with with the antidote to the mirakuru serum.”

“That’s bio-chem.” Cisco frowned, leaning in. “That’s… not really my strong suit, science wise.”

“You’ve improved a lot in that area since then. It’s still my wheelhouse, but you’ve picked up a lot of knowledge and experience. And it started here.”

“Mirakuru,” Hartley muttered, eyes narrowed in thought. “Wasn’t that the name of the organization that nearly leveled Star City during spring 2014? Star City used to be Starling City,” he added in an aside to Cisco, “they rebranded because people keep trying to blow it up, but it didn’t really help. People still try to blow it up once a year.”

Caitlin snorted in amusement. “Sad, but true. Anyway, mirakuru was less of an organization than it was one very well connected man with a vendetta and access to a failed super soldier drug, which was called...”

“Mirakuru. Which is Japanese for miracle.” Hartley’s voice had gone a little flat.

Cisco hummed softly because he could… he could almost see a blond woman sitting by someone sleeping on a medical bed in the cortex…

“Barry… she was here to visit Barry. There was a blond woman who… she brought a sample of mirakuru and asked us to come up with an antidote.” Cisco felt proud of himself, remembering that. Next to him, Hartley looked rather pleased too.

Caitlin nodded and confirmed, “that’s right. Her name’s Felicity Smoak and she’s a good friend of ours.

“Mirakuru was developed by the Japanese during World War Two. It was meant to give the users enhanced healing, strength, hand-eye coordination… and in that regards, it was a success. However, the side-effects were too extreme for the serum to be of any use and program was discontinued.” Caitlin paused a moment, bringing up a presentation program on her computer screen. “The side-effects included heightened paranoia, aggression, and hostility, as well as hallucinations. A man known as Slade was administered the serum to save him from life-threatening injuries, but he began exhibiting signs of the side-effects within hours of receiving the drug and turned on the friends who’d saved his life. Eventually he came to Star City, intending to get vengeance and used his own blood to formulate more of the mirakuru serum in order to create an army to destroy the city with. Some were volunteers, others were not.”

Cisco swallowed hard. “We almost didn’t finish it in time,” he said, the words distant and he wasn’t entirely sure where they were coming from.

“But we did. People… people still died that night, but we created enough anti-serum that every mirakuru soldier Slade created was depowered by Team Arrow and their allies. Including Slade himself, who has since worked to make amends for what he did under mirakuru’s influence.” Caitlin’s computer was now showing a complex chemical on the screen. “This is mirakuru. And this,” a second chemical composition map appeared, “is the antidote we created.”

* * *

“Well, that was heavy stuff,” Cisco sighed as he got into the car with Hartley to go for lunch. “I guess I’ve been superhero support staff for longer than Team Flash has been a thing.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I really knew any of that either,” Hartley admitted. “We never really talked about the aftermath of the accelerator or even why you decided to stick it out at STAR when so many other people jumped ship. By the time I came back, a year had passed just about since the accelerator...” he mimed an explosion… or, no, it wasn’t just ‘miming’ it was a word.

“That’s the ASL sign for explosion, isn’t it?” Cisco asked hesitantly.

Hartley nodded. “Do you… do you remember any ASL? You started learning it a few years ago and we… we use it a lot, at home. There’ve been a few times here and there where my anxiety has gotten bad enough that I’ve gone partially non-verbal and, well, my hearing...” Hartley trailed off, though Cisco couldn’t tell if it was from uncertainty or embarrassment at admitting there were times he had difficulty expressing himself verbally.

“I remember a few phrases and words. It’s like… I remember what a sign means when I see it, but until you did this,” Cisco repeated the sign for explosion, “I couldn’t have told you what the sign for explosion even looked like.” He grimaced. “Yet another thing I need to relearn.”

“It’s not urgent,” Hartley muttered, ducking his head.

“Hey, it’s a part of how we communicate with each other. Maybe it isn’t urgent, but its important.” Cisco paused a beat. “Is, uh, is the reason you use Latin sometimes the same reason you use ASL when its just us?”

Hartley nodded. “I know, like, seven languages fluently but sometimes I just blank on a word and if the word is similar across various languages, it’s like… I’m missing a whole chunk of my vocabulary. Using Latin helped with… with Harrison. But he turned it into this… he made it something I’m not comfortable with anymore so I don’t use Latin very much these days. Unless I want to annoy Caitlin and Frost. But ASL became… the first time I told you ‘I love you’ I used ASL. I’d been trying to say the words all day and I was frustrated because I couldn’t and I finally just signed it and… you understood me. You started learning ASL because we were friends and coworkers and… you made me feel seen.” Hartley frowned. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I’m communicating this well...”

Cisco leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. “I think I get what you’re trying to say,” he said, pulling away with a blush. “I want to relearn ASL.” He wanted Hartley to feel safe and seen and… and loved. That was what the sign language had come to represent to Hartley, what Cisco wanted it to mean to himself as well.

“Alright. We can do that.” Hartley rubbed at his eyes a little and then started the car. “So. Lunch and then rats?”

“Lunch and then rats,” Cisco agreed with a smile.

* * *

There are a lot of rats in the pet store. Cisco’s fairly certain the amount of rats could be legitimately called a plethora but he doesn’t want to distract Hartley, and himself, by making the movie reference.

Two, maybe three, of these little critters are gonna go home with them. As their fur babies, like Hartley’d said earlier. A test run to see if they could care for something small and helpless and utterly dependent on them and what if Cisco screwed it up?

“Cisco? Hey, Cisco.” Hartley gently put his hands on Cisco’s shoulders, such that they were facing each other. “You’re getting a little panicky there. It’s… it’s fine if you don’t want a rat after all...”

“I’ve never had a pet before,” Cisco said, shaking his head. “What if I forget to feed them or...”

“Oh, Cisco…” Hartley gave Cisco’s shoulders a squeeze. “We’ll remind each other. And also there’s setting reminders on the phone. That’s how I remember to take my meds every morning; I’ve got an alarm that makes sure I wake up in order to take them on time.”

“Right… sorry, just… I don’t want bad things to happen to our pets because I’m absent minded or spend too much time at work or whatever.” Cisco paused a beat, “but I also kind of really want a pet, so…”

“Once you remember how to open breaches, you’re gonna be checking on our rats ten times a day, aren’t you?” Hartley teased, voice pitched low for just Cisco to hear.

“Probably.” Cisco turned back to the rats. “How are we supposed to pick them?”

“Whichever ones we think are cutest, I guess.” Hartley didn’t hesitate to slide one of his hands around the back of Cisco’s neck in order to rest his arm along Cisco’s shoulders while his other hand dropped away entirely. Seemed he’d gotten the message earlier that Cisco was all for the close, touchy-feely stuff today.

In the rat enclosure, there were brown and gray and black and white rats… some active, some sleeping, some squeaky, some quiet… and Cisco had no idea how to pick out the ones to take home. Hopefully Hartley had an idea of what to do.

“What do you think of those two?” Hartley gestured to two rats – one gray and one black – who were nestled together quietly nibbling on some sort of snack together.

“Sure. They certainly seem to like each other already.”

“Could be siblings. Let’s see about adopting these little fellas.”

Hartley went to find someone who’d assist them with the rats while Cisco kept an eye on the two they wanted. He imagined them in a cage where the ‘Two Rats’ poster was now, making happy rat noises and exploring their new home. They’d need a good sized cage and some sort of plastic tunnel system the two could run around and explore, something that could be changed around to keep it interesting. Nesting materials, snacks, food, water bottles…

There was a list on Hartley’s phone that they’d planned out Sunday evening after coming back from Cisco’s parent’s house. Monday night they’d picked up a cheap console table from Target. Something sturdy and easily put together; purchased more for functionality than aesthetics, though the sides of the table were indeed nice to look at. The box with the table inside currently hiding underneath the couch until they were ready for it.

That was going to be the first thing their rats watched them do. Build furniture meant to help house them better. The rats might not understand the significance of that, but… it was a loaded thing for Cisco, in a way.

They were planning a future together: Cisco and Hartley and now these two rats. And though Cisco had moved past the fear that he might run away from all this on Saturday, when he’d introduced Hartley as his husband at the painting with a twist place and then kissed Hartley after their ‘first’ date was over. He was falling in love with his husband all over again and it gave Cisco all kinds of good, shivery feelings to refer to Hartley like that. His husband.

But with how much Cisco didn’t remember, it was still daunting. It was saying ‘I still want the future I planned, but don’t remember planning’ and ‘I want to keep promises I don’t remember making’. It was saying ‘I won’t let my fears stop me’ and meaning it.

Hartley’s hand slid along Cisco’s shoulder blades as he returned with an employee. A young girl who looked like she belonged in high school but was probably a college student. And suddenly Cisco felt very much thirty years old instead of twenty-four. She looked like a kid.

Cisco suddenly wanted very much to just take the rats and go home now. He did his best not to sound impatient as they gathered their rats – who were indeed siblings – and all the things on Hartley's list and then finally checked out at the register.

As they were putting their Tetris skills to use packing things away in the car trunk – rats already safely ensconced on the passenger seat in a travel cage for Cisco to hold on the way home – Hartley took a moment to slide his fingers through Cisco’s hair and plant a kiss against his forehead.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Just… I know we joked about it the other day, but it hit me again. I’m thirty. And the employee that helped us in there looked like a kid. Like she should be in high school – in class right now.” Cisco sighed. “And now I feel old.”

Hartley toyed with Cisco’s hair a bit more. “Your perception has changed. Twenty-four is a lot closer to eighteen than thirty is.”

“Exactly. It’s like falling off a cliff or… or being reminded that the gentle change of time that would’ve made the perception shift gradual just got snatched out from under me like a rug.” Cisco sighed. “I want to go home, build our rats their new home, and then just cuddle on the couch.”

“Sounds good to me. As long as there’s room in that plan for me to cook you a very nice dinner.”

“I will never turn down you cooking dinner for me,” Cisco promised, smiling a touch crookedly. “You’re an amazing cook. I remember that much.”

“I also bake,” Hartley replied, shutting the trunk of the car. “Ready to take our new pets home?”

“Drive carefully. I don’t want to risk dropping our little fur babies on the floor,” Cisco teased.

* * *

They had to take the console table apart halfway through and start over from scratch. Then they agreed to leave that part out when they told Caitlin about their new rats the next day.

(“Some engineers we are,” Cisco had joked as they very carefully unscrewed the legs from the top of the table and then swapped them around to the other side.

“You’re the engineer. I’m just a physicist.”

“Don’t give me that. You graduated with a mechanical engineering minor – you’re an engineer.”)

Once the table was together, the large cage went together much easier, along with the fun, clear plastic maze that hooked up to it for the rats to rove around through. A few other toys went into the cage itself, a food bowl was added in, a two full water bottles were strapped to either side of the cage, and a bunch of nesting material was spread around the cage for their pets to pick and choose from. And then, once Hartley was satisfied the rats were going to be happy, healthy, and kept mentally stimulated, the two rodents were released from the travel crate into the cage itself.

Hartley picked up the gray rat while Cisco – a bit more hesitantly – scooped up the black one. Then their furry little friends were carefully plopped into their new home.

“Looks like they like it,” Hartley observed as one rat checked out the wheel for running while the other sniffed cautiously at the opening to the maze.

(Cisco had been insisting it wasn’t really a maze. It was a plastic tunnel that went around, and behind, the cage before terminating back into the cage. Hartley continued to call it a maze anyway… and Cisco was starting to pick up on the terminology despite himself.)

“Yup. Of course, I didn’t consider this before but now that they’re here… you realize we’re never having sex in this room again, right?”

“I’m sorry, what now?” Hartley looked adorably confused and almost comically worried. “Why not?”

“They’ll be watching us,” Cisco gestured to the rats. “I don’t want them watching us have sex.”

“I’m sure we can come up with some kind of cover for the cage,” Hartley protested. “I mean… Cisco. Come on. They’re not going to care about us having sex, anyway. They’re rats. Human mating habits aren’t that interesting to them.”

“Maybe I’ll change my mind once we’ve had them for a while. Or we can give the cage cover a go. But… I just… don’t want them staring at us all judgmentally while we’re all sweaty and naked and making sex noises.”

Hartley giggled. “You’re ridiculous. And adorable.” He reached over and tugged Cisco towards the couch. “I believe I promised someone some cuddling.”

They settled on the couch and Cisco tucked himself up against Hartley’s chest, enjoying the feel of Hartley’s arms around him and their bodies pressed together and the warm scent that Hartley smelled of. He smiled wryly. “So what did you have planned for today? Before my memories went on a holiday?”

“For today? Just wining and dining… maybe a little...”

“Sixty-nine-ing?” Cisco finished along with Hartley and they both cracked up. “Sorry that last part isn’t really on the table right now,” Cisco sighed.

“It wouldn’t have been on the table then, either. Neither the foosball table nor our coffee and end table set would be comfortable enough for something like that,” Hartley teased while Cisco choked a little, caught between blushing hard and giggling at Hartley’s declaration. “I’m here with you, Cisco,” Hartley’s tone turned more serious. “So the most important part of my plans for the day get to happen anyway. We’ll have sex again when we’re both ready. Anyway, my real anniversary plans were for this weekend. There’s a concert at the arboretum Friday evening and we were planning to bring a picnic dinner and make an afternoon of it. If you’re still interested...”

“Yes.” Cisco closed his eyes, snuggling closer to Hartley and thinking of the pictures Iris had taken when they’d gone on a double date with her and Barry at the arboretum. Maybe he’d remember that day if they went to the arboretum.

He’d like to remember that day. They looked so happy together. So in love.

“Picnic dinner, flowers… we’ll need to bring allergy medicine for the pollen, though.” Cisco hummed, pleased at the idea. “I saw a sangria in our little wine collection. We should bring that on our picnic.”

Hartley made a pleased little humming noise of his own, fingers starting to toy with Cisco’s hair absently. “Good. The arboretum has always been kind of… our place. I’m hoping it still will be.”

“Me too,” Cisco sighed softly. “Keep doing that with my hair and I’ll fall asleep on you.”

“Go ahead and nap. I like having you right here.”

“Mmkay.” In the background the rats were making happy little noises as they shuffled around the bedding to make a nest. Cisco smiled at the sound.

Happy anniversary indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't figure out what to name the rats, so that'll be another story later on once I do have names for them.


End file.
